The Once Famous Yahoo! Directory is Shutting Down: An Era Comes to an End

When the world will celebrate New Year on 31st December 2014, personnel at Yahoo! would be bidding a tearful adieu to Yahoo! Directory. Yes! You’ve heard it right! The two decade companion who proved its mettle during World Wide Web’s early days is shutting down. Initially, it was referred to as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web” on the founders’ name. But, soon they decided to rename it as YAHOO! (“Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”). Yahoo! Directory was the Yellow Pages for Internet as it enabled the website owner to submit their site to a category in the directory.

WHEN GOOGLE CAME, THE DOWNFALL OF YAHOO DIRECTORY STARTED –

When Yahoo! was the only search engine tool, people used to browse through lists uploaded in different directories to find websites. With time, it became the most popular search engine on the Web. Even the publishers were worried about finding a space in the directory. Yahoo! Directory’s golden period was the first five years. It was at its peak during 1996 and 1999. Its downfall started with the coming of Google which generated search results by automation unlike using human effort. When Google came, search engine landscape saw a drastic change.

THE FUTURE COURSE –

When Yahoo! first gave this news through their blogpost, they hinted on the passage that they would take in the near future. Jay Rossiter, the SVP of the Cloud Platform Group at Yahoo said, “Yahoo was started nearly 20 years ago as a directory of websites that helped users explore the Internet. While we are still committed to connecting users with the information they’re passionate about, our business has evolved and at the end of 2014 (December 31), we will retire the Yahoo Directory. Advertisers will be upgraded to a new service; more details to be communicated directly.”

Rossiter also explained, “At Yahoo, focus is an important part of accomplishing our mission: to make the world’s daily habits more entertaining and inspiring. To achieve this focus, we have sunset more than 60 products and services over the past two years, and redirected those resources toward products that our users care most about and are aligned with our vision. With even more smart, innovative Yahoos focused on our core products – search, communications, digital magazines, and video – we can deliver the best for our users.”

Time certainly doesn’t stop for anyone! The end of Yahoo! directory is surely not a high point for the company. But, the need of the hour is to see and learn the dramatic changes that are taking place in the world of Internet.